You are here

NO TITLE FOUND

TEAM MEMBERS Yuan Zhang Sapan Saptarshi Kevin Maya

THE PROJECT This project takes a look at one of the scientific approaches that researchers use to study Bird Flu virus.

Flu is a common viral infection of lungs that affects millions of people annually and a leading cause of death in the United States. Research on the influenza virus will provide information to design strategies for early diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the disease as well as better design antiviral drugs and antibodies against the virus.

Flu virus enters the epithelial cells of lung via binding of the hemagglutinin(HA) protein on the surface of the virus particle. HA is also the main antigen that human immune system recognizes and responds to by making antibodies and mounting immune response.

We will take the protein sequence of Hemagglutinin gene from protein data bank, visualize it in a protein structure viewer, and then simulate the structural change of the protein using molecular dynamics packages NAMD and VMD.

We will take the protein sequence of Hemagglutinin gene from protein data bank, visualize it in a protein structure viewer, and then look at the structural change of the protein using molecular dynamics packages.